Subgenus Brugella Edwards, 1930
Bironella travestita (Brug, 1928); original combination: Anopheles (Bironella) travestitus.
Subfamily Anophelinae, genus Bironella. Subgenus Brugella includes three species. Subgenus abbreviation – Bru.
The following combinations of characters distinguish species of subgenus Brugella from those of subgenera Bironella and Neobironella. ADULTS – Vertex, occiput and interocular space essentially as in species of subgenus Bironella; antenna weakly verticillate in males as well as females, flagellar whorls attached near base of flagellomeres; maxillary palpus short, 0.17–0.20 length of proboscis, dark brown- to black-scaled; anterior promontory with patch of pale piliform scales as in species of subgenus Bironella; upper proepisternum bare; cell R of wing about as long as vein R2+3; origin of M3+4 proximal to radiomedial crossvein; hindfemur pale-scaled on anterior surface except apical 0.17, anterior surface of hindtibia pale between proximal 0.20 and apical 0.25. MALE GENITALIA – Gonocoxite with scales on basolateral area, basotergal area with no more than short rounded lobe with apical setae; claspette present; aedeagus similar to that of species of subgenus Bironella. LARVAE – Seta 3-C single, 0.50–0.67 length of seta 2-C; setae 5–7-C multi-branched, about 0.50 length of head capsule. PUPAE – Trumpet without notch at apical margin; seta 13-CT rarely present; seta 9-II,III short, stub-like but slightly longer than in species of subgenus Bironella; seta 9-VII moderately long, spine-like, seta 9-IV–VI shorter than seta 9-VII; paddle with fringe of spicules on outer margin, absent from inner margin. See genus Bironella.
Bironella hollandi was included in the study of Foster et al. (2017) based on analyses of mitochondrial protein coding genes, and was recovered as the sister of a clade parenthetically expressed as Nyssorhynchus + (Cellia + Anopheles). The evolutionary relationships of the subgenera and species of Bironella have not been investigated.
The immature stages are found mainly in cool, clean water among floating debris and vegetation in shaded bodies of water such as streams, swamps, ground pools and lagoons at mouths of rivers, and smaller collections of water such as road ruts, seepage pools, springs and pig wallows. They are sometimes found in natural and artificial containers. Adults of Bi. obscura and Bi. travestita have been collected in Malaise traps; the latter species has also been collected in carbon dioxide-baited traps and biting humans. Adults of Bi. hollandi have never been collected in the wild.
Species of subgenus Brugella are not known to transmit pathogens of human diseases.
Bismarck Archipelago, Ceram (Moluccas), New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Bironella hollandi is known from the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands; Bi. obscura is only known from localities in northeastern and northwestern New Guinea; Bi. travestita is recorded from Ceram and New Guinea.
Tenorio, 1977 (keys, taxonomy, distribution, bionomics); Lee et al., 1988 (keys, taxonomy, distribution, biology, literature); Foster et al., 2017 ( phylogenetic relationships).
hollandi Taylor, 1934
obscura Tenorio, 1975
travestita (Brug, 1928)